People's Insurance Group of China plans $1.6 billion Shanghai listing

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - People's Insurance Group of China (PICC) (1339.HK), which owns the nation’s biggest non-life insurer, is targeting raising more than $1.6 billion (1.13 billion pounds) through a Shanghai IPO in a long-delayed plan that will be the biggest mainland listing so far in 2018.

PICC plans to issue up to 4.6 billion A-shares in a Shanghai initial public offering (IPO) that will raise over 10 billion yuan ($1.59 billion) to replenish capital, the insurer said late on Monday in a notice to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

A PICC listing in China would come more than four years after the company went public in a $3.1 billion offering in Hong Kong. PICC is the parent of PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd (2328.HK).

PICC will become the fifth Chinese insurer to be listed in both Hong Kong and a domestic stock exchange, joining the ranks of China Life Insurance Co , Ping An Insurance Group of China (2318.HK), China Pacific Insurance Group and New China Life Insurance Co . The five companies are the largest insurers in the country.

PICC has been planning a domestic listing for a number of years, according to people familiar with the group's strategy. However, changes in China's listing rules and temporary suspensions of IPOs after turbulence in China's stock market had delayed the plan.

Shares of the insurer surged 6.5 percent in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning, amid a firm broader market (.HSI) that was up 1.1 percent.

The deal will be underwritten by China International Capital Corp Ltd , Essence Securities, CITIC Securities Co Ltd and Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities, according to the prospectus posted by China's securities regulator.

($1 = 6.2965 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Hong Kong newsroom and Engen Tham in Shanghai; Writing by Kane Wu; Editing by Stephen Coates and Muralikumar Anantharaman)